But sometimes just washing your face with a normal cleanser isn’t enough. Using a mask a few times per week is one of the best ways to thoroughly cleanse your skin and draw out all the impurities. There are tons of different brands who sell great masks. The best thing to do is to try different products and see what works best for your skin.

But while looking for a mask, make sure that it contains ingredients like Salicylic Acid which help keep pores clear, Kaolin clay which absorbs oil, or Benzoyl Peroxide which kill bacteria which causes acne.

Clay masks are also great for oily skin because it removes excess oil, clears up blackheads, and deep cleans your pores. I have two favorite masks that I’ve been using this summer:

The first is Lancome’s Pure Empreinte Masque. This mineral mask with white clay mask hardens after about 5 minutes and removes oils and reduces the appearance of my pores.

The other mask I’ve recently become obsessed with is the JUARA Milk & Red Sandalwood Mask. It absorbs oil and reduces redness. The mask comes as a powder and you mix it with any type of liquid into a thick paste. After about 15 minutes, I wash it off and I’m left with cleansed skin. Many masks leave my face feeling super dry and tight. But this mask leaves my skin feeling great and super soft.

As much as clay can be purifying, it can also be drying if left on for too long. I always use an oil-free moisturizer or JUARA’s oil-free, alcohol-free Tamarind Tea Hydrating Toner, which gives just the right amount of moisture to negate the potentially overdrying effect of clay.

A lot of people like to make their own masks. Check out this website with different mask recipes and try to make your own at home!

Some recipes that look great are:
*Cucumber Yogurt Mask – ½ cucumber, 1 Tbsp plain yogurt – Puree cucumber in blender and mix in yogurt. Apply to face and leave on for 30 minutes. Rinse well. Yogurt can soften skin and exfoliate gently, while the cucumber tones the skin. How relaxing!

*Apple Zinger Facial Mask – 1 medium size apple, 5 tbs. honey – Grate the apple and mix the honey well. Smooth over skin and let sir for 10 minutes. Rinse off with cool water. Honey is antibacterial and skin softening, while apple can exfoliate.

*Honey Mask – High quality honey – Massage a small amount of slightly heated honey onto skin and leave it on for 10 minutes. Honey is a powerful antibacterial agent and it does not cause unpleasant side effects such as dry skin, itchy skin or allergy.

Do you have favorite masks for oily skin?

This JUARA Girl's got it covered!

What should I wear? I go through this decision process on a daily basis – and there’s no limit to how many outfit changes I can make just to go to the grocery store… But what I should be thinking, and have been more, is how much UV radiation is out there and what’s the best way to protect myself from sun damage.  (For those of you just joining this UV foray, find out more about UV rays how to check the amount you’re receiving in last month’s blogs.) Moving on, did you know that clothes offer UV protection? It’s actually pretty easy to incorporate into your daily summer wardrobe.

UPF: Ultraviolet Protection Factor: What is it?

UPF indicates how much of the sun’s UV radiation is absorbed. A fabric with a rating of 50 will allow only 1/50th of the sun’s UV rays to pass through. This means the fabric will reduce your skin’s UV radiation exposure significantly, because only 2 percent of the UV rays will get through.

What’s the UPF of my clothes?

Tightly knit/thickness: Lightweight and loosely-woven fabrics do NOT offer much protection from the sun. A white T-shirt provides only moderate protection from sunburn, with an average UPF of 6 (16% of sun’s rays pass through). On the other hand, a dark denim has about  UPF 1,700 – basically complete sun block. In general, clothing made of tightly-woven fabric best protects skin from the sun. The easiest way to check fabric protection is to hold it up to the light. If you can see through it, then UV radiation can penetrate your clothes – and your skin! And thicker fabrics such as velvet in black, blue or dark green have an approximate UPF of 50. Also, if it doesn’t cover your skin, it’s not protecting you! Long sleeves are obviously better than short sleeves…

Color: Darker-colored fabrics are more effective than lighter ones at blocking out the sun. For example, the UPF of a green cotton T-shirt is 10 versus 6 for white cotton.

Fabric Content: What the clothing is made of matters. Unbleached cotton contains lignins, special pigments that absorb UV. Shiny polyesters and even thin, satiny silk can be highly protective because they reflect radiation.

Activity: If your clothes gets stretched during activity, like yoga, the fabric will lose some of its protective ability because it becomes thinner and more transparent to light. Also, wet clothing can lose up to 50 percent of its UPF, so a wet T-shirt provides a UPF of only 3, allowing 33% of UV rays through to your skin. (Thanks to Skin Cancer Foundation for all their help!)

What other clothes protect from the sun?

Not only can you buy high-tech sun protective clothing made of special weaves with colorless dyes that provide UPF of 15-50 protection, you can actually wash sun protection into the clothes you currently own, and for cheap! $2 buys you a colorless additive, Sun Guard, that provides a UPF of 30 (blocks more than 96% of UV) to your laundry for up to 20 washings!

Next up, what else to wear…with clothing must come accessories! What else can you do? Any more fun sun facts we should share?

1)      Keep babies out of the sun whenever possible

Babies have thinner skin and underdeveloped melanin (the body’s own defense against the UV rays) and therefore have to be kept out of the sun whenever possible, especially during peak times 10 AM to 4 PM.  This is even more imperative since babies should not use sunscreen before they are 6 months old.  Plus babies can’t regulate their body temperature the way adults can and can overheat much more easily and quickly – one more reason to keep them out of the sun. 

2)      Use protective clothing and umbrellas

Look for clothing and hats with a built-in UPF of 30 or more.  A light, white cotton T-shirt is not enough to shield baby’s skin adequately from UV-rays.  Thicker fabric is more protective, but you also want to make sure that your baby won’t overheat under thick clothing. 

3)      Sunscreen before 6 months

Sunscreen, especially chemical sunscreen is a big no-no for babies under 6 months.  However, if there is no way to stay out of the sun, sunscreen can be applied in small doses at 3-4 months, but it has to be baby-appropriate sunscreen (read below).  For example, your baby is mostly covered by clothing and stroller canopy, but the feet are still exposed.  In that case, it makes sense to apply a sunscreen to the exposed areas, as long you also keep an eye out for any skin irritation.  Avoid putting on too much sunscreen on the hands.  Babies will inevitably put their hands in their mouth and rub their eyes. 

4)      Choose the right sunscreen

Sunscreens that are safe for toddlers may not be safe yet for infants.  Look for sunscreens that rely solely on non-chemical sunscreens like Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide, and if you are not sure, speak to your pediatrician, dermatologist or pharmacist.  Chemical sunscreens may not only irritate baby’s delicate skin, they are also absorbed into the bloodstream through the skin.  This is a problem for babies, since they have so much surface area, i.e. skin, relative to their body mass.  So relative to their weight, babies can absorb a lot more chemicals through their skin than adults can.  I consulted with my pharmacist in Germany to pick the right formula for my 4-month-old daughter.  Initially I was interested in La Roche Posay’s Anthelios  Dermo-Pediatrics SPF50+ but was advised against it.  Even though good for sensitive skin, Mexoryl (which is the sunscreen agent in all Anthelios products), is a chemical sunscreen and therefore not appropriate for baby skin.  My pharmacist recommended Eau Thermale Avene’s Sunscreen SPF50 instead, which literally looks like pure zinc paste on my daughter’s skin.  Another popular sunscreen for babies is “Blue Lizard Australian Sunscream Baby, SPF 30”.

5)      The Vitamin D connection

We all need some sun for the body to make Vitamin D for strong bones and for our immune system, but do babies get enough Vitamin D if they are kept out of the sun?  New research shows that infants that are exclusively breast-fed may not get enough Vitamin D.  This does not mean that you should expose your baby to the sun – the risks outweigh the benefits by far.  But rather, it is recommended to give baby a Vitamin D supplement of 400 I.U.  My pediatrician prescribed Enfamil’s Tri-Vi-Sol Drops with Vitamins A, C & D.  This should be continued until baby is able to drink at least 32 oz of Vitamin-D fortified infant formula per day.  Formula-fed babies seem to get adequate amounts through the fortified formula.

My question to my fellow moms:  Which baby sunscreen product and other sun protective items do you recommend?

Thanks, EPA! Click on me to read this monster table

We love our skin and we want to protect it, but what’s all this stuff about UV radiation, sun protection, SPF, UVA, UVB? So many words and abbreviations, so little time. Last time, we discussed UV radiation very briefly, and then skin type and why it is important to know your type. Okay, you say, I know my Fitzpatrick skin type, what do I do now? Remember that UV radiation’s effect on your skin depends not just on your skin type, but also on the amount of sun exposure you recently received and you will receive.

How Much UV is Really Out There?

The UV Index is a nifty number created by the EPA and National Weather Service that is calculated daily (1 day prior) which indicates the strength of solar UV radiation that reaches the Earth through the protective ozone layer on a scale of 1 (low) to 11+ (very high). And conveniently, you can find your location on a map or enter your zip code/city and state to get the UV index for your location. I just checked for New York (it’s cloudy and muggy today), and our it’s a UV Index of 6/High.  So there’s one jewel of information – EVEN CLOUDY DAYS HAVE LOTS OF UV!

Tips for Skin Health related to UV Index

• Check the UV Index daily: links to downloadable apps and facebook or bookmark the website link for UV index
• UV rays are strongest between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m (long shadow- less exposure; short shadow/mid-day – more exposure)
• Water, Snow and Sand (sometimes even clouds)  reflect the damaging rays of the sun which can increase your chance of sunburn – sometimes doubling your UV radiation exposure!
• High elevations = more UV exposure

So add this to your list of good habits! And let me know what other helpful tips you know or do to check and deal with your daily sun exposure. Next time…what to wear! My favorite…

One way to protec your skin from the sun...

We all know by now:  Sun can be dangerous to the health of our skin.  Sun exposure is the #1 culprit for premature aging and skin cancer.  While the days of sprawling your baby-oiled body in the mid-day sun are over, there are still many misconceptions about sun protection and about what works and what doesn’t.  Here are my top 5 of what you should not rely on for protection:

1) Clouds & Shades

Clouds and shades will not adequately protect you from the sun.  UV rays penetrate through even thicker clouds and reach our skin.  Your skin may not feel as hot on a cloudy day, but the rays are still damaging to the skin.  Sitting in the shade is better than sitting in the sun, but may only provide an SPF15, due to UV-rays reflecting off of surrounding surfaces (water, sand, buildings) and reaching our skin.

2) SPF

SPF only indicates the level of protection from UVB-rays.  We now know that UVA-rays are just as damaging to the skin.  The beauty and healthcare industry has yet to come up with a standardized system to rate UVA-protection in cosmetics.  Until then, look for key words like “broad-spectrum protection” and active ingredients like Avobenzone (Parsol 1789), Titanium Dioxide, Zinc Oxide, Ecamsule (Mexoryl), Bemotrizinol (Tinosorb S) and Bisoctrizole (Tinosorb M).

3) Clothing

While putting on a T-shirt is definitely far better than not having any protection, keep in mind that a simple white T-shirt only holds a sun protection factor equivalent to SPF6!  The darker and thicker the fabric, the higher the protection.  Alternatively, look for special sun protection clothing with an UPF (usually goes up to UPF50).  You can also buy a special laundry-aid like Sun Guard, which will wash an UPF30 into your garments.

4) Make-up with sun protection

With growing awareness about sun protection, makeup companies have been quick to add sun screen into their foundations and powders.  The problem is that most people will never apply enough foundation or powder to achieve the indicated protection level, because they would look like a clown.  Rather than think of makeup as the base of your protection, think of it as the icing on the cake.  Use your regular sunscreen and apply broad-spectrum makeup or powder for added protection.

5) Your body’s alarm system

Our bodies are amazing at telling us what we need.  Unfortunately, with sun exposure, your body will not sound the alarm bell as soon as your skin is being damaged.  By the time your body tells you, i.e. your skin feels hot and stingy or changes color, the damage has already been done.

What are your foolproof ways to stay protected in the sun?

We’re always talking about how to protect yourself from UV damage, but never about the UV itself or why. So a brief overview! (We’ll delve deeper in days to come…so please stay tuned.)

UV Primer: What is it?

Any time the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays (invisible radiation) are able to reach the earth, there is a risk for excessive sun exposure, meaning radiation that can penetrate and change the structure of your skin cells. Exposure to UV rays appears to be THE most important environmental factor in the development of skin cancer and has also been associated with various forms of eye damage, such as cataracts .  UVA and UVB have been shown to increase your risk of developing skin cancer.

There are three types of UV rays: ultraviolet A (UVA), ultraviolet B (UVB), and ultraviolet C (UVC).

• UVA: most abundant source of solar radiation at the earth’s surface, and penetrates beyond the top layer of your skin to cause damage to connective tissue
• UVB:less abundant at the earth’s surface than UVA because a significant portion of UVB is absorbed by the ozone layer,  does not penetrate as deep into the skin as UVA does, but is still damaging
• UVC: extremely hazardous to skin, but it is completely absorbed by the stratospheric ozone layer so does not reach earth’s surface

Know Thyself : Skin Type

UV radiation’s effect on each person depends on a few factors:

• skin type
• time of year
• amount of sun exposure you’ve recently received

Your skin tone and susceptibility to burning can be checked on the classification chart to the left.  (Incidentally, this chart is also used to determine how you’ll respond to facial treatments.) But why is this important?

Why Should I Know Myself?

When UV rays start penetrating your skin,  the skin’s melanocytes kick into high gear and start producing melanin (dark pigment that gives skin its color – tan or skin tone), which results in a tan. People with fair skin, however, tend to burn, because they have fewer melanocytes and produce less melanin.

Knowing your skin tone is probably most important to help you prevent SKIN CANCER.  Skin tone types I-III (in red) have a greater risk of developing skin cancer than  types IV-VI. That means you need to do more to protect yourself. But those with darker skin tones don’t get away with it that easily either, you might be able to wear a lower SPF sunscreen, but no one is immune to ultraviolet rays and the damage they cause. (according to American Cancer Society)

Ok, so that’s it for now. What’s your skin type?  Any questions before we move on to UV Index then how to protect yourself?

Dengue Fever is transmitted through mosquitoes in areas of stagnant, clean pools of water in tropical areas.

You know how you hear of stories of “my friend’s friend went to India/Africa/Asia/ExoticLand and got this crazy mystery illness and [insert bodily harm/damage here]…” And at some point you think, “Well, that’s got to be an exaggeration that won’t happen to me…” till it happens to you – that unrecognizable or unbelievable disease that seemed so last century? Well, that’s what just happened to me – a victim of Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever. What is it? A virus transmitted from an infected mosquito that wreaks total havoc to your system.  Dengue’s bad enough, but this was the doozy kind, the complicated one where you see death rates possibly in the double digits… What I thought was a bad sunburn leading to dizziness and nausea turned out to be a much more serious condition after the Dr. said “Blood Test!” (yes, even JUARA Girl makes sunblock mistakes, knowing all the points from Yoshiko’s entry on sunblock.) What saved my proverbial a**? Catching it on the 2nd day of the fever and being rushed to the hospital to be hooked up to fluids at my mother’s insistence; had I been diagnosed a mere 2 days later, prognosis would have been much, much worse. Let’s just say we might be the JUARA Trio. So – 7 days in the hospital with IV needles up my arms, nausea, rashes, fever, and then some… and then the virus passed. In the process, I was treating a bad sunburn with Tamarind Tea Hydrating Toner (oil-free, cooling hydration) daily. I was a lucky one and got discharged just today. Others who “didn’t do so well,” as my sister-in-law says, aren’t around to tell the tale. So what went wrong though? How the heck did I get it anyway, me, the supposed comfortable bi-global traveler? When your brother’s advice is “Don’t Die,” should I feel like I had overlooked something?

Let’s face it – bad things happen to good people. Or lots of things happen to good people, some of it just bad. Like overzealous UV rays that give sunburns and lower your immune system. Or mosquitoes that give you deadly viruses. Or the occasional typhoid that you get from a dirty cup (oh, that was so 2008…) Sometimes it’s really just a part of life, and so I realize the key is to KEEP YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM STRONG!!! A few interesting tips I am walking away with to be on my preventative well-being list, some mainstream, some more traditional Indonesian…

- Stay hydrated. Drink lots of water and keep your electrolyte levels happy – your system functions better when hydrated. If you are in SE Asia, there are many new ‘electrolyte’ drink but a good standby that’s not a sugar bomb: Pocari Sweat; it’s like local Gatorade (but Japanese inspired.) Also, when buying bottled water, (I only saw this in China though where people were refilling used water bottles and selling as new…) make sure the seal hasn’t been broken and that your bottle of water is really, truly new/unopened.

- Use plenty of sunblock. REAPPLY FREQUENTLY. I made the mistake of going into the beach for only 2 hours with not enough sunblock in a haze of silliness, then played in the water and burned like a mad – since I was so dehydrated from wedding festivities the night before, which REALLY doesn’t help either. Bad sunburns reduce your immune system too and that is no joke. And that makes you more vulnerable to a whole other host of potential illnesses like typhoid, or cholera, or even good ol’ Montezuma’s revenge… (traveler’s diarrhea.)

- Drink red guava juice, the fleshy kind with the million seeds: Keeps your blood healthy, it’s more a traditional remedy but I’ve never drunk so much in the last 6 days, and it did help… It helped maintain energy levels from draining. On that note, eat a ton of fruit. The tropics has PLENTY of variety to keep you delightfully satiated. (Bird’s nest + ginseng is another price concoction but works wonders too.)

- Get enough sleep. Nuff said. The problem with a compromised immune system is that you don’t know it until something hits you that normally shouldn’t or wouldn’t – and when you’re traveling, there’s always so much excitement that sometimes our adrenaline keeps us going longer than it should, and with jet lag for many, the first few days are filled with a haze of odd sleep hours.

- Wear mosquito repellent if you think there are ANY mosquitoes around. Malaria is prevalent in areas where the water is dirty, and Dengue lies where the water is clean. (Stagnant pools of water like little ponds after a rain, or an unmaintained swimming pool…) So you’re screwed wherever you are in tropical zone, really. You can give people Dengue by being sick and around mosquitoes that might bite your infected self, then transmit to your pal or child nearby… This wasn’t so much an issue in the past but lately, if you’re traveling to tropical areas, the infection count has hit near epidemic proportions so it’s worth the precaution…

So, stick with those basics when traveling in tropical land (or at least Indonesia) and you’ll probably be OK. The slightest sign of what might even be a cold, check it out – because it just might be not your common cold in ye lively parts! Good luck and happy travels!

1)   Trusting a high SPF

SPF30 is better than SPF15 but it does NOT give you double the protection.  SPF15 filters out about 93 percent of the UVB rays; SPF30 filters about 97 percent of UVB rays. Once you go above SPF30, the added protection gets even more marginal.  Some dermatologists even suggest not going above an SPF30 because the added skin-irritating chemicals of a higher SPF outweigh the benefits of the added sun protection.

2)      Trusting that SPF is the end-all be-all

SPF only protects from UVB-rays so read labels carefully.  A sunscreen that sports an impressive SPF but contains no UVA-protection in the form of Avobenzone (Parsol 1789), Titanium Dioxide, Zinc Oxide or Ecamsule (Mexoryl) will not shield your skin from the rays that age your skin, and as we now know, also cause cancer.

3)      Not using enough sunscreen

You need about a 1-ounce shot glass full of sunscreen to properly protect the skin on your body.  If you buy a 4-ounce bottle of sunscreen, the bottle should be empty after 4 applications.  So that person who pours a dime-size into their palms and rubs it all over may feel protected, but really isn’t.

4)      Not re-applying often enough

Heat and humidity in the summer make us sweat more.  All of that perspiring  makes the sunscreen on our skin less effective.  Add to that a dip in the pool or ocean and drying your skin with a towel, and you probably have hardly any sunscreen left on your skin.  Doctors recommend reapplying every 2 hours or after being in the water.

5)      When enough is enough

Once you feel the heat and stinging in your skin, you’re already well on your way to a burn.  No amount of sunscreen can stop that process.  It’s time to just get out of the sun, period.

What are your favorite and most trusted tips and tricks to protect your skin from the sun?

Sometimes you just can't beat it... and it's OK.

to start the timezone adjustment, and hope for the best. Most of the time it works. But this time, something was different. Jet lag came at me with a vengeance – like that mad unstoppable truck you see slamming into a crowded intersection in a blockbuster movie, or that dam that finally burst to the raging water who just got fed up with being held back. I’m not sure why now – not staying up the night before? Not having a meeting to roll into right from the airport? (Although that can’t be it since I did have a wedding I rushed to straight from the airport, including a quick superman change from Grungy Plane-Wear to Heels & Satin in a bathroom stall… Elegant? No. Effective? Why yes…) But still, I was out like a light by 6pm, with a cancelled a meeting and another appointment I totally slept through in the wake of my napping destruction, while still ending up wide awake at midnight. (Doh!) Perhaps this time it’s the human tendency to not be immune to what should be a natural occurrence (like resting when tired, duh) getting to me. Yes, constant work and not allowing yourself to take some time off – ah, the common crimes I see entrepreneurs commit against themselves… So instead of fighting it this time, I am going with it. I just bought a novel, calculated that I could take 2 days off of work with no major repercussions (I think it’s called a weekend…), and so far, it’s been wonderful – the forced leisure since well, my body won’t have it any other way. I like to look at it as concentrated me-time. This time, my family is out of town and my friends all conveniently are out too, so like it or not, I have to embrace my calendar-free days with reckless (and frightening) abandon. Eat when I want to. Sleep when it calls. Watch episodes of South Park at 3am. Nap at 3pm. Read a book in between when the brain is awake but the body is not. Get a facial at 2pm. Try not to fall asleep during it. Write this blog entry at 5am and trust it will all be ok… I feel naughty breaking all the “Don’t Let Jet Lag Beat You!” rules, but I think I’m liking it so far, and I can feel my body naturally adjusting to the time zone here. But now sadly, now that I’m used to it, I only have about 24 hours left of this grand let’s-not-be-so-hard-on-yourself spree, but I’m enjoying the ride. So what’s next? A JUARA event in Jakarta with amazing designer Ardistia Dwiasri (http://ardistianewyork.com/) and a series of other meetings on the horizon. Am I ready for it? Absolutely. Probably more so than I would have been had I not taken my unchosen break. Here’s to being human and giving yourself some TLC!

Extra: There is a lot advice online on how to beat jet lag, but the one post that summarizes what I have found to be the most effective is here. Do you have tips of your own?

What supplements are good for new moms?

If you are a new mom like me, you probably read up a ton on nutrition during pregnancy and took your prenatal vitamin religiously.  What happens after the baby is born?  All of a sudden, you are completely overwhelmed with trying to figure out how to take care of an infant.  Equally important, however, is how to take care of your own health and your body’s healing process after the stress of pregnancy and labor.   Eating balanced meals and exercising is very important but what about supplements?  I asked my friend Douglas Taurel, NYC based personal trainer and Charles Poloquin Bio-Signature coach (and also new father to an adorable, healthy 9 month-old boy) about what he recommended:

“The most important supplement I believe through experience and training that pregnant women and new moms should supplement with is Fish Oil. I suggest it to all my clients, women, men, pregnant and golden age that they should supplement with fish oil.  Omega 3 is what we are after.”  Aha!  Here it is again, Omega 3 – remember how we were told during pregnancy to take lots of Omega 3!  Douglas gave me a whole list of benefits, which made me run to the vitamin shop to get some.  As Douglas explained, women should be close to pre-pregnancy about 12 weeks after giving birth.  Omega 3 fish oil can help because it helps the body burn more fat AND it actually reduces the body’s tendency to store fat.  In addition, Omega 3 increases Serotonin in the brain which is a very strong antidepressant and helps with anxiety, panic attacks and reduces carbohydrate cravings – very important for those experiencing the postpartum depression.  It helps reduce inflammation in the body, obviously very important in the body’s healing process after pregnancy.  Omega 3 also assists the body in putting on muscle, so if you’re breastfeeding, upping your Omega 3 intake will help your baby grow stronger and healthier.

Motherhood can be crazy, especially if you are also working, but no matter how chaotic the day gets, I stick to my supplements:  a good multivitamin, extra fish oil for Omega 3 and calcium.  Thanks Douglas!  (Check out www.taurelfitness.com)